It seems like every day a new cabinet simulator, synthesizer, or midi sequencer plugin comes out. Don’t get me wrong, this is no bad thing, and there are some great new products that have come out in the last six months (more on that in another article). The thing is, very few of these plugins are doing anything particularly new. There are only so many EQ plugins you can buy before they all start to look the same.
It’s time to shake off the cobwebs, get out of the rut, and leave your comfort zone, and what better way to get the creative juices flowing after Easter, than 5 plugins that are doing something completely unique.
Most people that use a talkbox are either REALLY big Bon Jovi fans, or YouTubers that have run out of ideas and have decided to make a video about the Korg Miku (the less said about that, the better).
Audiothing’s The Orb, however, does things differently. With complete control over the vowel sound, the emphasis with which the sound is made, the Drift, which can shift the frequencies up or down of each formant, as well as THREE LFOs to play with, The Orb has managed to effectively simulate the characteristics of the human voice. Featuring a set of three band pass filters, The Orb can transform any sound into a vowel-like formant-filtered sound. Not stopping there, you can also create your own set of vowels by changing name and frequency for each vowel/formant.
As Matthew Sims (Post Malone, Keith Richards, Frank Ocean) puts it, “I haven’t come across an audio plugin like this. It functions as a Phaser, Talkbox, Step Sequencer, Filter and Vocal synth. Depending on how you use it, you can get surprising results.”
Coming in at number four, United Plugins’ Reverse Delay is a thing of beauty and wonder. Reverse Delay means the reverse effect is heard before the original sound. This is achieved by reporting a fake latency to the DAW, which then compensates, perfectly aligning the end of the effect with the start of your original sound. This plugin literally predicts the future, and then plays it back to you.
The easy to use controls allow you to soften, trim, filter and extend the reverse effect to seamlessly transition from wet to dry. You can smooth out transients, remove bass punch, reduce harsh attacks or bring down high-end frequencies all to make the effect a supporting role while keeping your original sound center stage. Its most common use would be on a snare sound, but it goes so far beyond that. Inject interesting rhythms to boring drum loops, spice up ARPs and leads or transform vocals and pads into otherworldly textures. The sky is the limit, except in reverse.
Digital drum tuning is not new. However, it often requires destructive re-pitching that can muddy your sound and ruin your mix. Enter Knocktonal, a note based resonance enhancer from Grammy Award Winning producer and mix engineer DJ Swivel. Instead of endlessly adjusting the hertz of your drum sounds, this plugin allows you to shape the note of the hit itself.
Equipped with both Resonance and Subtractive EQ’s, Knocktonal offers complete control over your root notes as well harmonic overtones with up to 30 bands of resonance. It can be used both statically, or dynamically with separate MIDI input channels for both your additive and subtractive EQ’s. Knocktonal also has a built-in limiter so you can push your signal as loud as you want for a smooth clean sound.
Whether you want to turn your kicks into punchy 808’s, create percussive lead instruments, or simply glue your drums to the key of the song, Knocktonal offers surgical precision over the sound of your drums in the most musical way possible.
Energy Panner - Sound Particles
While we’re predicting the future, let’s talk about Energy Panner. Adding spatial dynamics to a track or stem is often inaccurate, time consuming, and above all difficult. As spatial audio becomes the direction new software is going, Energy Panner gets in at the ground floor.
Using the intensity of a sound to control its movement. From traditional stereo to immersive, this plugin enables artists to create reactive movement. Imagine drums moving at the beat, synth notes that move on attack, among many other behaviors. From music to audio post, from stereo to Dolby Atmos, Energy Panner is a plugin that you definitely want in your toolset.
Fluid Pitch & Fluid Chords - Pitch Innovations
Pitch Innovations is the first music software company from Bollywood, and boy are they making a name for themselves. Their first outing, Fluid Pitch, revolutionised the use of the mod-wheel, locking it to a specific scale of your choosing, allowing you to express any genre of music with unparalleled ease. Gone are the days of individually colour coding your notes in DAW and applying individual slides, th
As MusicTech magazine writes, "A true why hasn't anyone thought of that before plug-in". They haven’t stopped there, however, with their latest release releasing this technology to entire chords and back. Fluid Chords is a sound designer's playground - You can now create unique pitch FX like chord risers and more, as you can now create harmonies that have never been heard before (like bending from a single note to a whole chord).
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